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Vitruvian Scroll Border series

Henrywood's Highlights
Transferware from a British Perspective

Number Thirty of an Ongoing Series by Dick Henrywood

 

Dick Henrywood
As a variation from my usual listings of titled patterns I thought it might be useful to look at two series of patterns which feature animals, neither of which is common. The first series has a distinctive border previously described as Vitruvian scrolls so I have dubbed it the Vitruvian Scroll Border series, being a suitably distinctive name.

Vitruvian Scroll Border series
A series of patterns found on small plates featuring animals, a bird, and in one case a classical figure, surrounded by a border of looped scrolls and inner grapevines. All examples I have seen have been printed in black and the border coloured with green and blue enamels. The centres are also enameled, sometimes with added yellow and/or ochre. The following, very short list includes one known non-zoological scene for completeness:

Faith (not titled)
Cup plate 4.5in
The one non-zoological pattern, in this case showing the classical figure emblematic of Faith.

Horse (not titled)
Plate 6in

Monkey (not titled)
Plate 5in

"Pintado"
Plate 5.25in
Illustrations: Riley 859 (plate)
This is the only pattern noted to date which bears a title. The pintado is a guinea fowl.

Three of these patterns are recorded in the TCC database and I am able to add a fourth, the Monkey, with a relatively poor image shown here. The only illustration I can trace is the “Pintado” in Noël Riley’s Gifts for Good Children 1790-1890. With one pattern featuring the figure of Faith, an obvious question might be whether matching patterns with Hope and Charity were ever made?

The second series appears to be even more unusual:

Animal Trellis Border series
A series which features a single animal in the centre surrounded by a trellis border of fern-like fronds and flowerheads forming diamond-shaped panels containing the same animal repeated many times. Despite hunting through my records and elsewhere I can only find two examples, both unmarked plates, and I have no record of sizes:

Elephant (not titled)
Plate (size not known)
In this pattern the elephants in the border face in the opposite direction to the animal in the centre which features very prominent tusks.

Goat (not titled)
Plate (size not known)
Illustrations: Neale 2/22 (plate)

I can offer only a poor illustration of the Elephant pattern and the Goat pattern can be seen in Gillian Neale's Encyclopedia of British Transfer-Printed Pottery Patterns. Both of these are printed in blue.

I have already noted that both these series are uncommon, so here’s a real opportunity for TCC members to add to our knowledge. Do you know of any other examples in either series? Answers please to Dick Henrywood (henrywoodshighlights@transferwarecollectorsclub.org).

(Click on images for a larger view.)

Foraging Party trellis - elephant

Vitruvian Scroll Border series plate with a monkey.

Animal Trellis Border series plate with elephants.

 

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